The grand and festive Saint Peter's Fair attracts tradesmen from across England and beyond. And in the summer of 1139, with a propitious lull in the civil war, the fair promises to bring some much-needed gaiety to the town of Shrewsbury—until the body of a wealthy trader is found in the River Severn, stripped and pierced with a dagger. If Thomas of Bristol was the victim of murderous thieves, why were his valuables abandoned nearby? Brother Cadfael offers to aid the merchant's heir, his niece Emma, yet even as he is searching for the killer, the merchant's stores are ransacked and two more men are murdered. Emma seems to know more than she is telling, and Cadfael races to save her from doom, knowing that betrayal can come from any direction, and even good intentions can kill. Writing as Ellis Peters, linguist and scholar Edith Pargeter (1913–1995) created one of the great historical mystery sleuths in Brother Cadfael, the worldly Welsh Benedictine monk of Shrewsbury Abbey in 12th-century Shropshire, England. After a score of Brother Cadfael mysteries, and many others, Peters earned the Edgar Award, the Cartier Diamond Dagger, and enrollment in the Order of the British Empire (OBE) "for services to Literature."